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Motherhood Mondays: Toby's lovey

When Toby was teeny...
...he didn't gravitate toward stuffed animals. We had them around the house, but he ignored them all equally. I'd notice other babies dragging around faded blankets or teddy bears, but Toby seemed happy enough flying solo (or holding one of his toy cars).

Still, I remembered how much my siblings and I adored our loveys, and we wanted to help Toby to have something to cuddle at night, to bond with for years, to help him feel extra secure and cozy. So, on our beloved babysitter's recommendation, we ordered him a pillow pet. Have you ever seen them? Honestly, they're hideous. But she swore he would love it. (Wouldn't this adorable bunny work just as well? I wondered. No, she said.)

So, the pillow pet it was. When it first arrived, Toby seemed indifferent. We just placed it in his crib and he fell asleep, no biggie. But the second night, he casually tossed an arm around it. And by third day, he buried his head in it, wrapped his arms around it, and lay squarely on top of it as he drifted off. Now they are best friends, totally in love; I secretly imagine that Pillow Pet waits all day with bated breath for Toby to come to bed so he can see his "Boy" again, just like the Velveteen Rabbit:)

"That night, and for many nights after, the Velveteen Rabbit slept in the Boy's bed. At first he found it rather uncomfortable, for the Boy hugged him very tight, and sometimes he rolled over on him, and sometimes he pushed him so far under the pillow that the Rabbit could scarcely breathe....But very soon he grew to like it, for the Boy used to talk to him, and made nice tunnels for him under the bedclothes that he said were like the burrows the real rabbits lived in. And they had splendid games together, in whispers, when Nana had gone away to her supper and left the night-light burning on the mantelpiece. And when the Boy dropped off to sleep, the Rabbit would snuggle down close under his little warm chin and dream, with the Boy's hands clasped close round him all night long...

...Weeks passed, and the little Rabbit grew very old and shabby, but the Boy loved him just as much. He loved him so hard that he loved all his whiskers off, and the pink lining to his ears turned grey, and his brown spots faded. He even began to lose his shape, and he scarcely looked like a rabbit any more, except to the Boy. To him he was always beautiful, and that was all that the little Rabbit cared about. He didn't mind how he looked to other people, because the nursery magic had made him Real, and when you are Real shabbiness doesn't matter."To Toby, this guy is one of the great beauties of all time.

Do your little ones have a lovey? Did your child naturally gravitate toward one, or did you encourage it? Funny how Toby just kind of learned to love it. I'd love to hear your experiences...

OMG that picture of Toby is too too cute! My older son (5 years old) took to his bunny pretty early on. It's a stuff animal version of the bunny from Goodnight Moon. He LOVES bunny, talks to bunny, would take bunny everywhere with him if we didn't stop him. I can't imagine how or when he will give him up. Bunny definitely helps naptime and bedtime move more smoothly.

My younger son has a rotating assortment of friends but has a Taggies blankie that has been constant. Not as attached as his older brother. We've tried to encourage a lovely with him but he doesn't seem to be as particular. Each kid is different, rigth?

we totally encouraged it for the same reasons that you gave. i wanted them to have someone special that could make them feel secure through the night (especially because we didn't do binkies). i would just put these little blankie animals next to them when they slept. and eventually, they couldn't sleep without them.

now, we have duplicates for each just in case. any suggestions on how to get them to give it up? or does it just happen naturally?

I had a stuffed "Little Foot" dinosaur from the movie "The Land Before Time." I loved him so much and slept with him every night. My brother would do cruel things like have Little Foot be hanging from his neck over the dining room table when I came home from school!

I had a pillow that I was attached to as a child. I tried to introduce a few stuffed animals to my one-year-old but she doesn't really care for them either. She received a pillow pet for Christmas. Maybe I'll give that a go.

p.s. that excerpt from the Velveteen Rabbit gave me chills. I forgot how magical that story is.

our baby boy has a stuffed turtle that we encouraged (like big time encouraged) attachment towards. He had a very hard time sleeping more than an hour, so after holding this turtle anytime we'd nurse, he finally associated it with comfort and security, and now he sleeps with his arm around it and longer than an hour!

I never give parenting advice, but... you might want to rush out and *BUY TWO MORE OF THESE!*

When my oldest son lost his beloved Jellycat Dino at age 2.5, he couldn't sleep, couldn't eat, and cried all day long for three days until I tracked down another one. Apparently it was a limited edition stuffed animal and after calling 20+ stores, the manufacturer, and sleuthing all amazon & ebay sites, I found one. It came from a mom who saw my desperate craigslist WANTED post I put up in every neighboring city!

Needles to say, four years later, the dino lovie is now like my 3rd child :O

This is so sweet! I had a "blankie" and I would always fold hold it in my hand and make a small point out of it and rub my thumb against the pointy part of the blanket. sounds silly, now, but it was so comforting to me as a child! I remember it fondly!

My 5 month old baby boy is attached to his jellycat Cow (similar to the bunny) you posted. He cant sleep without it. We recently just purchased a "back-up cow" so he can have one while the original is being washed :)Its the cutest!

except mine was peach colored. I named her Emily, and carried her EVERYWHERE. I used to leave her in the refrigerator all the time, because I needed two hands to lift the milk. Once, I left her at a fire hall after my cousin's christening party, and my dad had to drive out in the dead of night to get her for me. I loved her until that little heart rubbed right off her nose.

My 17-month old daughter has two lovies - duck and owl - that are from the Angel Dear line. she will carry around them with her and snuggle up and bury her face in them when it is time to sleep. so cute!

i was totally obsessed with my pacifier. unfortunately, i had it waaaay too long and i ended up having a seriously messed up jaw from it in my early twenties. $30,000k, two sets of braces, jaw surgery, and 8 weeks of not eating solid food, i will NEVER allow my kids to have a pacifier! they should have had those pillows back in the 80s!

Soooo cute. I had never heard of pillow pets until my 5-year-old got one for his birthday. Hideous, like you said, but so soft that it's okay. My older son (the now 5-year-old) loved a stuff penguin. Not right away, and not to the point of not being able to sleep without him, but he definitely liked to get his snuggle on most nights. My little guy (2) always has to go to sleep with something in his hands, but it usually doesn't matter what. Stuffed animals, matchbox cars, flashlight, toy dinosaur...last night it was a pez dispenser! Hey, as long as he sleeps, it's all okay by me!

My sister-in-law once bought my then-baby nephew a moose pillow-pet offhand on a trip to Vancouver. It looks like the dog in the bottom photo. He came to love it so much he hugged it everywhere and called it Moosey.

I had a pillow I lugged with me everywhere (even, evetually, to college!) until half the stuffing came out. I actually had to stop my mom from throwing it away and instead just sewed it up into a nice throw pillow. Now any nicely molding pillow, preferably down, will do. :)

Joanna - One of the very first blog posts I ever read, ever, was that one about "baby munchkin". I died laughing (several drinks help to make it even more hilarious!) and I linked it to Facebook and I made everyone in the room read it. I read all the comments and continued to laugh so hard I was really weeping! This has nothing to do with today's post, but thanks for a great memory. Now, thanks to you I'm addicted to blog reading - almost to distraction sometimes! Thanks again! :)

Yes! My son Colin has a lovey, its one of those small blankets for baby's, it's silky on one side and has a little bear attached to it, he can't sleep without it! My Mom is the one that thought to give it to him, she noticed when he was a newborn that he liked to hold it between his fingers, thank goodness for loveys!

My son never had any type of lovey as an infant. I used to say his comfort object was me. He nursed exclusively , he never would take a bottle or a pacifier. We co-slept until he was almost 2. He had always wanted to sleep directly on top of me. We even got rid of the crib when he was 9 months old since he had never once slept in it. I kind of regretted it because we longer had a place to put him even we decided to try or force the issue. Around the time he was turning 2 I could not handle the sleepless nights and the tossing and turning from my little pinwheel sleep buddy. I ordered him a bed and we made a big deal about going and getting his special bedding. Before my son was born we had gotten him the stuffed black and white cat from the book "If you give a cat a cupcake" by Laura Numeroff. It was the first thing we bought him. The character resembled our cat so we had to have it. When it was time to go to sleep the first night I dug him out of the pile of animals that my son never payed any attention to. I told him it would be like Magmoe (our cat) sleeping with him. He loved it. One day we were at Target he saw a stuffed star that was attached to a pile of infant wash rags and screamed "MOMMY IT`S TWINKLE!!! TAKE HIM HOME!!!". Instantly he became lovey #2. So every night and nap time my son grabs both of them and puts them to his ears and falls fast asleep. Its almost a year now and those loveys are definitely worn it. I love to smell them. They smell like my sleepy little guy.

My brother and his wife didn't want their son to be attached to any one blanket or stuffed animal or anything like that so they bought him two blankets that they would give him interchangeably and he never seemed to favor either one.... until he started wanting both of them around him all the time! So rather than getting him attached to one blanket, he's now attached to two. :-)

i had a bear that i slept with every night until i was 16. his name was Pillsbeary.

confession: i (jokingly) LOVE unicorns. not in a creepy was. but it tends to be a theme for all gifts. one friend got me a mini unicorn pillow pet for my 30th b-day this year. it's on my bed, and i kinda love it. there is something about it. the mini is a perfect size, and i rest my head partly on it, partly on my actual pillow.So, i get it Toby. I totally feel ya on this one!

We bought our daughter the Mirabelle doll from blabla when our son was born as a gift from him. At the time she was 15 months and had never had any lovey. I just brought her with us on every trip and put her in her crib and would ask "where's mirabelle?" when she wasn't around. I definitely encouraged her but after a while it took and she now goes everywhere with us. I think it has helped her transition and she now applies the same concern for Mirabelle (or, Abelle as she calls her) as she does for her brother.

Back when we were just dating, my now-husband brought me his teddy bear to comfort me when I was sick and he was at work. The bear is yellow and soft and a little bit shabby. His name is Radar (yes, like in M.A.S.H.). I cried happy tears, because he loved me so much to trust me with something so precious. "But you need him!" he said.

Radar will reappear when we have a child; we're trying to conceive. I don't know if I will mind if our child doesn't love Radar as much as we do, but the bear will definitely watch over the baby, even if from a distance.

My nephew is 5 now and has been calling his blankie "Green" for a few years now. His mom bought him an extra of the same blanket in case it was ever lost and so it could get washed, but he knows the difference. He calls one "Green" and the other one "Bogus Green."

What a gorgeous baba... so sweet sleeping away. I'd bought my son 5 exact same bunnies when he was born (in case we lost one!) but he decided to fall in love with a little hippo my sister gave him. I'm hoping we never lose the hippo!http://fashionistas-anonymous.blogspot.com/

My girl turned her sleep sack into her lovely. When got it at two, outgrew it at three, but carries it around the house every day, and now she's seven. Even for a sack, it was able to earn the name "bia," pronounced [bee-aah].

I slept with Mama Bear as a baby and all throughout my childhood years. She is a stuffed animal my mom got as a gift at the hospital when she was giving birth to me and my twin sister. In the beginning, Mama Bear had two cubs attached to her paws -- Chocolate and Vanilla, as I named them. Chocolate has since been lost, but I still have little Vanilla cub too! :)

Apparently I wasn't a huge stuffed animal baby, but when I was a bit older my mom bought me a flatophant exactly like this one: http://www.fao.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3811948 and I slept with it every night. It's flat on the top, like a pillow pet, so you can use it as a pillow. There's other animals too - flatofrog, flatopus - and they're all pretty cute. My sister has slept with a pluto (from mickey mouse) stuffed animal since she was a toddler. She's 26 now. It's been patched up half a dozen times and the nose is completely flattened because she uses it as a pillow! I guess little ones like stuffed animals that double as pillows...

My brother had a bear and a toy duck that went everywhere. My Mom purchased 2 or 3 of them when she realized they were going to be his top toys. There was never a chance of losing them, and the great thing now is we have the original bear and duck, and new ones for our kids too (if they are so inclined :)

My brother and I had our special animals, but never took them anywhere with us. I think I was afraid of losing my Teddy and never find him again!

One family I used to babysit for had the BEST idea ever in the world: instead of an actual blanket, they gave their youngest son one of the dad's plain white t-shirts, and he became as attached to that thing as any kid has ever been attached to a stuffed animal or security blanket. When it got dirty or misplaced throughout the day, all I had to do was get another shirt out of the drawer! It looked the same, smelled the same, and felt the same, but it was totally replaceable! It was a totally genius trick.

My baby girl isnt interested in any toy to cuddle but likes a cute doll she received for her first birthday (now she is 14 months) and a stuffed toy I made long time ago. She kisses them and plays with them but not in bed and not all day.

But I wanted to tell you about a friend's little boy, he used to cuddle with his mother shirt, made of silk and when he was sleepy you could see him searching for her t shirt or when he was insecure or upset.

My 6 month old son does not have a lovey...yet. I would love to try with your babysitter's advice...what size do you think is appropriate and do you think only the puppy works? I would like more the Jolly Giraffe but as I will order it from Italy I would like to be sure it's something that works with babys...maybe they appreciate more the cream colours??!!

My son Gavin had a bright yellow bear, with a red nose and green paws. We called the bear stinky because Gavin was always spiting up on him. He took stinky with him everywhere…but when he was about three years old his babysitter found a back up stinky. We were always making bed time runs to the sitters, grandma’s house or dad’s because he was accidently left behind a few hours prior. The adventures he had with his bear very much remind me of the “Knuffle Bunny” stories by Mo Willems. My son still has his stinky bear…but gave up sleeping with it only this fall right after he started middle school. He has left stinky in the care of his little sister (age 6) who takes Stinky to bed with her “special” pink blanket and much loved ladybug pillow pet. The extra stinky bear resides at my son’s dad house, and while he wasn’t as great as the “real” stinky…he did work in a pinch.

My son is about Toby's age and when he was little, he wouldn't have anything to do with stuffed animals. Then he seemed to gravitate to this unremarkable blue bunny we happened to have. He calls it "bun-nay." Then a few weeks ago we were at a store and he had a fit when he saw a small stuffed owl so we caved and got it for him. Now he sleeps with "Owl" and "Bun-nay" every single night. When I get him up in the morning, he's usually clutching one of them, laying completely on top of it. So sweet :)

My little dear has a stuffed Snoopy from the Hallmark store. He's so soft and Sam likes to lay right on top of him while he sleeps. He also takes him on walks around the neighborhood, which is just as cute as it sounds.

My 12 year old nephew has the same Pillow Pet as Toby! Isn't that funny? So big, but still likes something soft to snuggle.

The Velveteen Rabbit brings me to tears every time! I got a Winnie the Pooh bear when I was little, and I still love him. Even though I'm married, still lives in my room. I love him (and wore him out) too much to pass on.

my 4 year old son has the same "doggie" pillow pet...he got him for his 3rd bday from a friend...first, he was "doggie pillow" and now he seems to be "pillow dog"--whichever my son chooses to call him (depending on the day)...he's been going to bed every night with the pillow--and a couple of other toys--for a while...whatever works to make him happy...it's funny that our sons have the same one... :)

awww...i love how he's sleeping. i slept in that position as a baby/toddler and so did my younger son. love it. sweetness overload!p.s. my guys love their pillow pets too but they're old enough now that they wouldn't appreciate me saying so ;)

This post had me tearing up thinking about Toby and his lovey. Piperjane has a lovey. It's a pink blanky with one silky side and one minky (same fabric on a pillowpet). When she sees it, she smiles bigger than anything. We joke that "I wanna know what love is" is playing in her little head whenever they reunite. It makes me so happy to know she has something to comfort her when I can't.

My kids BOTH have pillow pets (my daughter has the bee, my son has the puppy, like Toby). But they aren't as attached. My daughter has a giraffe named Guy that is THE UNIVERSE to her. He went missing last week (he was in the laundry basket, which I should have known as Edie kept saying Guy "needed a bath", and I realized that no matter how large or small your house is, they all feel like the Biltmore once a lovey goes missing at bedtime :)

Love the pic! Mine sleeps like that but I can never sneak in to get a pic! Jealous! My little boy never seemed interested in his stuffed animals or pillow pet (and I was paranoid about blankets), but at 12 months we started leaving Jellycat's Scout in there "just in case" and after a night or two he took to him. He is 16 months now and still holds him to fall asleep (and the sleep sheep has to be on).

I had a duck named Ducky that slept with me until my "child" came along. I passed Ducky along to my dog Charlie when I got him from the shelter two years ago. Ducky is a little more ragged now and all his stuffing is gone, but my dog loves his Ducky more than anything. He sleeps with him, protects him from other dogs, and even licks him clean. So, I guess our four-legged children can have lovies too :)

When I was about 5 my grandmother bought a box of used stuffed animals at a garage sale probably for a quarter. I remember fighting with my younger brother over this particular rabbit at the bottom of the box. Nothing special about her at all, but I knew we were destined to be together. I won the battle, and Bunny (clever name right?!) and I have been together for about 20 years now. I'm not gonna lie...she still sleeps under my arm most nights. It's funny how the most mundane things can mean the world to kids.

Our kids mysteriously stopped needing their loveys one day but I remember our son could not go to sleep without his burp cloth that had turned into his lovey. It's a great travel tip actually, I would travel with an extra sheet and his lovely, all imbued in the smells of home. It would make him feel instantly comfortable wherever we went.

I didn't have anything. My boy, Rory (3), loves a blanket. As long as it's white or yellow, it's fine! He carries it around casually over one shoulder when he's tired or upset and snuggles into it at night. If we haven't got it/can't find it, it's not that big of a deal. We just say it's being washed and he's fine, though it is a source of great comfort to him!

I love the jellycat cuddlies. We have a blue elephant called courdy-roy! I love him so much he sits on a chair downstairs... :-) Makes up for me not having anything when I was a child.

I never had anything like that. But, someone got my daughter an owl (mini blanket) for my baby shower. At first, I had no idea what it was (1st time mom!), but I was told that it's to comfort her. So, it's in her crib, but she hasn't really gravitated toward it yet. She probably will in time though. She's only 2 months old! : )

Cute little Toby. My daughter who is 21 months got a pillow pet ladybug for christmas but ignores it and is scared of it. She hates all stuffed toys. My son who is 4 and a half loves the pillow pet so he took it from her and adopted it and began to use it. My daughter just calls it "pillow" and really ignores it, and so finally three days ago I succumbed and bought a triceratops pillow pet for my son. He was so happy when it arrived yesterday in the mail and slept with it all night. Now i just have to get my little girl to cuddle her ladybug pillow pet.

I'm a nanny for a two year old and she is obsessed with her Jellycat bunny! Currently her favorite game is dropping bunny in the floor, lamenting over the dropped bunny, then apologizes profusely to bunny, smothering it with hugs and kisses - over and over again! Adorable post Joanna.

My oldest (he's almost 5) has a crocheted blanket a friend gave him that he's slept with since day one. To this day he doesn't use a pillow because he'd rather sleep on top of that blanket. He loves it! We'll have to wait and see what my youngest (2 mo.) falls in love with. :)

I had a stuffed baby doll and a sweet teddy bear. Today, I was cleaning out I found my husband's beat up loved teddy in a box. I'm totally going to save all three of those put them in future baby's room. I honestly think it's funny what kids will pick to be their favorite. :)

I still have my blanket that my mom sewed for me before I was born! Nothing makes me feel more comfy and at home when I'm home sick from work. And Pillow Pets are a preschool phenomenon! I'd say that 20 of my 23 preschool students have a pillow pets at school for rest time. Those are some pretty stuffed cubbies! But they just can't seem to sleep without them :)

My daughter goes through phases of loving one stuffed animal more than another, but the one that she looooves most of all is this weird eyed buggy lamb. I don't get it, but it makes me happy because my husband got it the night I got back from the hospital after a surprise miscarriage. He took her to the pharmacy to get my drugs and came home with the buggy eyed lamb. It has been her #1 since! :-)

So cute! Quick question, my 8 weeks old baby only falls asleep in our arms and throws a temper tantrum if we pt him down. Did you ever have that problem? Or any other sleep issues? How did you deal with them?

my lucy was the same with stuffies... I would always try to get her to snuggle and she was never interested. until she was 11 months old, she got a tiny baby doll (plastic hands, feet and head/the middle was soft) it wasn't the cutest thing, but she absolutely loves it! she caresses it and kisses it and is comforted when holding it. I have now tried all the cute little bunnies and stuffies that she never liked before... and now she likes those too! maybe she just grew into it :)

His pink cheeks are so beautiful! My daughter has a stuffed kitty named "Sand Kitty". She got Sand Kitty when she was around 3, taken him on every trip since then and he's now at college with her. Although she forgets him at home when she visits and I have to mail him to her.

Jude was the same way as Toby when it came to never paying much attention to the stuffed animals. Boys just really like their cars & toys I guess. But this last Christmas, my sister in law got Jude the dino pillow pet and he hasn't slept a night without it since. He just grew to love him, now so do I, because he comforts him.

My 2yr old boy got exactly the same pet pillow and we named it "buster". Gave it to him last Christmas. But he is more attached with his favorite blanket, "buster" just serve as his pillow though sometimes he talks to it...hehehe

I had a blankie and Moo-Cow! I actually had three Moo-Cows since I kept chewing on them, dragging them everywhere, etc. Bless my poor mother for having to go out and find identical Moo-Cows to replace my old ones.

Ok, maybe I need to try a Pillow Pet. Our third baby is 15 months old and hasn't slept through the night yet. I've tried to get him hooked on something other than the boob :-) So far no luck. Thanks for all the ideas!

My older daughter didn't gravitate towards a lovey, but she like sleeping with a blanket up around her face. When summer came along, I decided to get her one of those blankie pets (little stuffed animal with blanket attached) so she wouldn't swelter. She fell head over heels. She calls it her "Bear." She introduces it to people by saying, "I got Bear."

We tried getting replacement loves but none took. Her sister has inherited these replacements and likes all of them.

There's a woman in Vancouver who takes children's whimsical drawings and turns them into stuffed animals (or lovies, as you call them)! I just ran across this site today...check her out. They are so sweet and make me want to be a little kid again!

Our daughter (15 months) recently got attached to her jelly cat bunny- the one you posted actually! lol My mom got her the large bunny and one tiny one for my purse, shortly after she was born... and she luvs the big bunny now, calls him "bunnnnn" He sleeps in her crib and she carries him around the house in the morning, but thankfully we aren't at the phase where she is taking him out of the house or something... hope it doesn't come to that, but it is VERY cute how much they love something like this... it does start to make me think about her childhood memories and potential imaginary friends. (what is going on in there!?)

The next thing I have to figure out is how to wash these jellycats without to much happening to them!?

Here I am, 23 years old sitting on the couch with my childhood blankie crocheted by my grandma. It's practically disintergrating--I twirl the threads between my fingers. It crushes me to know that one day I'll be forced to give it up.

I have a pic just like that of my son sleeping "butt up" - love it! I had/have a blankie and I tried to get my son addicted to a blankie, lovey, and stuffed animal, and nothing has stuck (nor did pacis). Maybe I should try one of these too. seriously, toby is so freaking cute.

oh thank you for the much needed giggle, your writting is such a joy to read. My daughter has 2, they come everywhere and have been on many overseas holidays with both my husband and I guarding them more carefully than the passports and money!

my youngest brother, who will turn 19 this year, still has his beat-up snoopy puppet somewhere in his bed. i love it. it's one of those things you'd never expect but when i see it every now and then it just makes my heart happy.

Freddie has got a duck and a dog and he loves them both, often falling asleep clutching each in one hand. But his very favorite thing of all time is this wooden rhino from baby puzzle, the print is half eaten now but he walks all day long holding it. He is 13m.

I agree about Pillow Pets not being so cute. Maybe you could find one that was basically the same idea (a pillow with appendages) on Etsy, or (if you were so inclined) try sewing your own. Maybe for your next kid, though. Toby seems pretty attached!

At 7 months-old, Max decided he was done with swaddling, so I decided to toss him a lovey to see if it helped him sleep. We had received a small plush duck (Bunnies By The Bay) as a gift which was perfect bc it is small (4" tall) and has no buttons or anything else that can be pulled off and swallowed. He tosses and turns all night long, but that duck is always in his hands, under his body, or laying on his chest. He even plays quietly with it when he wakes up. When he started to crawl at 9 months, we also let him have his Little Giraffe Luxe blankie in the crib. For his first birthday, I am going to give him the Luxe pillow. Lovey-mania!

My Edward is 16 months and I'm thinking I need to get him a pillow pet. He's not super attached to anything and he keeps waking up at 5 am. I think having something in his bed that he loves will make it easier to lie back down and go to sleep when Mom and Dad don't rush in to get him. Thanks for the tip! I love these Motherhood Mondays!

P.S. How am I supposed to read Edward the Velveteen Rabbit without crying??? (I do the same with On The Day You Were Born)

Joanna, I am 26 years old and I STILL SLEEP WITH MY PILLOW PET! It is a rabbit named Flopsey. Over the years, my mom has found replacements at garage sales or dollar stores, so we have a couple just in case. LOL! I am not weirdly addicted to it or anything, but it always makes me feel better when I'm sick since I have no family here in NYC.

Marc decided on his own that his lovey would be the completely interchangeable washcloths from Babies-R-Us. Perfect! We call them "schmattas." However, in the past six months, he's become attached to a red dinosaur that was mine when I was little. This is a problem because it is completely irreplaceable! Although the company is around, they don't make these dinosaurs anymore. Funnily, we saw another kid at the park dragging around the exact same dinosaur. I asked his mom where he got it, and she said, "It was my husbands - it's like 25 year old." How crazy is that? (I would never let Marc take the dinosaur out of the house!!)

My daughter never took to a lovey (and boy, did I try), but my son locked eyes with one in a giftshop very soon after he learned to walk, and he's been attached to it ever since. It's the Jellycat stuffed zebra and it's the cutest. If you don't know the brand, take a looksie...http://jellycat.com/usa/products/jellycat/

I have 3 daughters, we swim in a sea of stuffed animals. When Wendy our youngest came she had a collection FAO would covet. Who did she pick? A bright red octopus with beady little eyes. The quirk is so her, absolutely melts me to find her snuggled up with Otto, who sometime in the night has put on a red polka dot jammies, two tentacle arms poking out, six hanging below. Awhhh pitter patter, they are sweet.

my son now five still sleeps with his brown blankie every night. the satin trim is totally shredded but he still touches it to soothe himself. he also sleeps with his menagerie of stuffies which includes pengui, nubby, bunny, texibear, and batray.

This post made me tear up a little... Haha. I bought a similar jellycat bunny for my 3 month old son, Davis. I hope he likes it when he's a little older! It was so precious sitting on the shelf at the store, I imagined him dragging it around everywhere and cuddling with it at night.

I am my son's lovey, we have co-sleep since birth (he's 3 now), and has never taken to any soft toys. Recently he has started bringing his soft tiger to bed, but it gets thrown out of bed before he falls asleep holding my hand :-)

I still have mine! "Monkey Doodle" was given to my mom at my baby shower. There are photos of me with it from back before I could even sit on my own! I took him everywhere, including to the playground in a wagon. He'd sleep on the couch with me when I was sick. He came to college with me. He still sits on my bed (though kind of wedged between the mattress and neighboring dresser). I remember when I was younger, I'd worry what my future husband would think of me! Thankfully, he doesn't mind. :)

Your baby is very lovely, and my baby, I do not love the baby plush toys, toys but about other types of interest, in particular I just bought him a yo-yo: http://www.toyswill.com/audi-double-auger-firepower-young-king-super-yoyo-p-583.html, like sleep are held in my hand.